1.) More than one source out of Colombia is reporting Pixar has made Toy Story 4 official and has set a 2015 release date, also promising the rather obvious returns of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack. I’ve no idea why Colombia would receive the news before the rest of the world, but I’m sure we’ll hear more soon enough if Pixar is making some sort of press event there this week. Then again, with Pete Docter’s Inside Out targeting 2015 and Finding Nemo 2 expected for 2016 this is all likely very premature. [Terra, Jorge Luis Balaguera, via Bleeding Cool]
2.) Kyle Chandler (Zero Dark Thirty, “Friday Night Lights”), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) and Sebastian Koch (The Lives of Others, A Good Day to Die Hard) will lead the cast of Showtime’s Ridley Scott-directed pilot for “The Vatican.” The potential series was created by Donnie Brasco writer Paul Attanasio and is said to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the Catholic Church. [HitFix]
3.) Spawn comic writer Todd McFarlane is still teasing a reboot of his dark superhero franchise. “I continue writing pages here and there,” he tells MTV. “I have a guy waiting in the sidelines, an Academy Award-winning actor.” Any ideas who that actor might be?
4.) If it wasn’t evident enough by his bevy of other in-development projects and his return to the WWE ring, Dwayne Johnson has confirmed the film adaptation of the DC Comics alien bounty hunter Lobo is no more. “For a minute, I was interested in it, but then it went away,” The Rock says. It was announced about seven months ago the project would reunite Johnson with his Journey 2: The Mysterious Island helmer Brad Peyton, but The Rock seems to be focused on Brett Ratner‘s Hercules. Johnson says the project will be his next shoot, mentioning it has been a passion project of his since he started acting and that he has been preparing for the role for the good part of a year. [MTV]
5.) When Rupert Wyatt left the sequel to his massively successful Rise of the Planet of the Apes back in September, it was widely suggested to have something to do with the time constraints of meeting Fox’s already-announced release date. The filmmaker has finally come out and given a (rather vague) explanation of why he left the project, offering “I had a take on the sequel which didn’t marry with the studio’s.” Matt Reeves, who Wyatt speaks highly of, eventually replaced Wyatt, while Dawn of the Planet of the Apes remains on track for a May 23, 2014 release. Wyatt has since turned his attention to the WWI drama Birdsong. [What Culture!]
